The rumours are circulating again of changes at the senior leadership level of the Church in this country. In today's commentary the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, poses questions regarding both the leadership and what, precisely, they are seeking to teach or preach...

Rumours of change at the top...

A few days ago the Cooes from the Cloister blog carried further speculation that some announcements will be forthcoming from the Vatican shortly...

With things beginning to crank up again in Rome after the summer, we are given to understand that the Holy Father has something up his sleeve for Australia, of an episcopal nature. Several people are shortly to be relieved of the torment of waiting, according to our Roman Desk. [Cooes from the Cloister, 15Sep09]

Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference and Archbishop of Adelaide

Perhaps it is time for us here at Catholica to begin another poll to try and ascertain what the general feeling is as to who should lead the Catholic Church in this country. Officially, of course, there is no single leader of the Catholic Church in Australia. Unlike some other countries — and denominations such as the Anglican Church — Australia does not have a Roman Catholic Primate, a "head archbishop" if you like.

The closest we come to having a single leader is a matter for debate in informed circles — and often for confusion in the secular media and wider society. The Archbishop of Sydney, being head of the original and mother diocese of the nation is by custom given a place of leadership prominence partly for those historical reasons and also partly because they also customarily have the ranking of a Cardinal, the highest episcopal rank in the international Church. Particularly under the present incumbent though others argue that the man elected (by his brother bishops) as President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference should be seen as the person carrying more authority to be speaking collectively on behalf of all of the bishops, and Catholics, in this nation. The legal reality in this country, as in the United States or Canada, is that the Church does not have a single Catholic leader for these nations but rather a collection of leaders who are truly leaders in both the legal and social sense of the individual dioceses and archdioceses that make up these nations. Each of them reports directly to Rome — not indirectly either through the Bishops' Conference or via some "head archbishop", "national metropolitan (archbishop)", or "primate".

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior episcopal leader in Australia and Archbishop of the mother diocese of the nation, Sydney..

While a flattened leadership structure does have laudable qualities in the sense that it is more democratic — and one could argue, consequently, more broadly representative of the community that makes up the Church — it can also be disadvantageous in that it encourages more mediocrity in leadership with the individuals leaders tending to hide behind the "collective facade" and being unwilling to take an assertive role that inspires the people as a whole.

Denis Hart, Archbishop of the largest diocese in Australia, Melbourne

There can be little doubt that the Catholic Church in this nation does require an injection of something to inspire people again if the decline in participation rates and the perceived relevance of the institutional Church and religion generally are to be reversed. As I keep arguing in this place, collectively the Bishops of Australia have much they can be proud of in Catholicism in this country. We have a Church in this country today which is in a better position than it has ever been financially, better than it has ever been in terms of the size and maintenance of its physical assets, and in a better condition than it has ever been in terms of the size, and professional qualifications, of its paid workforce. The principal problems are that there are fewer and fewer ordinary people participating in the Sacramental life of the Church and there are fewer and fewer employed as priests or dispensers of the Sacraments and as "spiritual guides".

Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of the the nation's Capital Archdiocese, Canberra-Goulburn

I am becoming less and less enamoured of the idea that the "participation at Sunday Mass" statistics ought be the prime measure of the health of Catholicism. Participation at Sunday Mass alone is no guarantee of "eternal salvation". The majority of the people have seemingly reached that conclusion for themselves and no longer are riven with fear of damnation for not regularly fronting up on Sunday — yet they still cling to thinking of themselves as "Catholic" when it comes to designating their religious beliefs for the government census and in other secular surveys.

I am not one to argue that we ought change the present decentralised leadership structure and, say, introduce a Primate. I do argue that collectively our bishops do need to be far more assertive than they have been and stop hiding behind one another's backs, or Rome's back, pretending that someone else will provide the leadership that can inspire the faithful again. We need someone with a very special charism — not one that is promoting themselves, the power of the institution, nor even the ideas that have become screwed up at some intermediate point in history (such as at the Council of Trent) — but one that is promoting those central ideas that we derive from the foundational core of Christianity and Catholicism; the Gospels and the insights of Jesus Christ that bring real meaning, real salvation and real peace-of-heart into our lives. Neither do we need the "sickly, saccharine-sweet, 'look-how-humble-I-am' type of leadership", or the "bullying leadership" which finds attraction in that dwindling core who think of themselves as the remnant and the chosen ones. Our religious leaders do have responsibilities towards all people in society including the remnant and "chosen one's" sector. They need to be increasingly mindful though of only playing to that small gallery in society that mistakes the search for certitude as a search for truth and salvation. Our religious and spiritual life is not something that can be likened to a game of snakes and ladders — some 'game of chance' where we endeavour to try and stack the odds a little in our favour by trying to create certitude through man-made rules even if we try and cloak them as being of Divine origin. Jesus Christ points to a radically different vision of life to the one we all learned as youngsters in the game of Snakes and Ladders — or in Sunday School or the kindergarten.

I suppose in this commentary I am throwing up two topics for discussion. One is the question of the type of ecclesial leadership we should be seeking to encourage in this country? Closely allied to that — and I suspect one of the major reasons why so many have "turned off" — is the question of what sort of message do we (the Church) think we are endeavouring to broadcast of what Jesus Christ offers to humanity — and to each individual person? Most important of all we require a leader, or group of leaders, who can articulate that far better than they have been. This may require some of our bishops themselves going off on some kind of retreat, or back to school, where they can really think through what in the dickens they are trying to sell and why so few these days are listening to them any longer. They might have to take some of those who try and dictate things from Rome with them.

Brian Coyne

Image Credits:
Clicking on the images will take you to the original source of the photos. The photo of Cardinal Pell was taken at the launch of Cliff Baxter's new book on the Knights of the Southern Cross last weekend. We will be reviewing Cliff's book next week.

Brian Coyne is the editor and publisher of Catholica.

We welcome your thoughts in response to this commentary in our forum.

©2009 Brian Coyne

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